Earth Activist Training Permaculture Design Course 2010

Courses, Workshops & Events

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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

Including

PERMACULTURE DESIGN

INTEGRATIVE ECO-SOCIAL CURRICULUM

COMMUNITY BUILDING

SOCIAL PERMACULTURE

MAGIC & RITUAL

ACTIVISM

HANDS-ON ACTION LEARNING

DESIGN TOOLS

& MUCH MORE

In Association With

Earth Activist Training

Facilitators, Instructors & Constants

Additional Instructors & Special Guests

to be announced soon!

Course Inspiration

An Earth Activist Training can set your life on a new path…or show you how to save the world. Green solutions are sprouting up all around us, but permaculture shows us how to weave them together into systems that can meet human needs and regenerate the natural world. Practical earth healing, with a magical base of ritual and nature awareness. Teaching that integrates mind and heart, with lots of hands-on practice and plenty of time to laugh.

Our two-week intensives are Permaculture Design Certificate Courses, offering the basic, internationally-recognized 72 hour permaculture curriculum with an additional focus on social permaculture, organizing tools, and spirit.

Course Description

This unique permaculture design certificate course has an additional focus on earth-based spirituality, organizing, activism, and social permaculture. Learn how to heal soil and cleanse water, how to design human systems that mimic natural systems, how to use a minimum of energy and resources to create real abundance and social justice. Explore the strategies and organizing tools we need to make our visions real, and the daily practice, magic and rituals that can sustain our spirits. This course is participatory, hands-on teaching with lots of ritual, games, projects, songs, and laughs along with an intensive curriculum in ecological design.

Topics to Include:

Certification Applicability

Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate. Design Certification is applicable towards Gaia University Degree Programs.

Intro to Permaculture Videos

Permaculture Principles at Work - An introduction to permaculture principles, as shown in two projects designed by Erik Ohlsen of Permaculture Artisans and Earth Activist Training: a homestead food forest and a lavender farm. Watch “Permaculture Principles at Work” here.

Tabir Tilth: Permaculture in the City - This tour of Connie Van Dyke's urban garden, Tabor Tilth, in Portland, Oregon shows her amazing, integrated system that produces food, fiber, herbs, and fertility on 1/5 of an acre! One of the best examples of urban permaculture around. Video by Starhawk for Earth Activist Trainings/Belili Productions. Watch “Tabir Tilth: Permaculture Garden in the City” here.

Contact

For questions and more information regarding the course

e-mail: earthactivisttraining@livingmandala.com or

call: (707) 634-1461

Earth Activist Training
Permaculture Design Course

Jan 9 - 23, 2010

Cazadero, N. California

Tuition & Registration

Course Tuition is $1400 - $1800 sliding scale, which includes instruction, dorm room accommodations, and 3 delicious, nutritious meals a day for the duration of the course. Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate.

Lodging

Tuition includes delicious meals as well as dormitory style lodging at the Padmasambhava Peace Institute. Private rooms are available for an additional $100.

Food

EATers eat well. Our standard is gourmet, organic, vegetarian meals, served three times a day, plus afternoon munchies. Our favorite chef Carin McKay and her crew will be cooking for us. All food is fresh, plentiful, and substantial. Teas and coffee are available at all times. You may bring your own wine or beer for dinner.

Worktrade

We offer a limited amount of work trade positions per course. Work traders are required to: * pay half or more, of the above sliding scale prices * pay a deposit * be willing to come early, stay late, and be assigned to one of our work trade positions. *

To apply for worktrade submit a work trade application and personal letter letting us know what your specific skills are and why you want to be considered for work trade. Work trade applicants are generally approved towards the end of the registration period. You will need to be flexible on your travel and be able to make last minute travel adjustments and arrangements. If you're applying for work-trade, please indicate how much you could pay (if accepted) of your own tuition: (at least one half of one of the above sliding scale tuition prices. Your deposit will be one half of that price and must be sent in (or made online) after completing this registration form and your personal letter, that can be emailed to earthactivisttraining@gmail.com).

Site Details - Black Mountain Preserve; Padmasambhava Peace Institute

Black Mountain Preserve is a beautiful 485-acre property in a delightfully quiet and pristine location overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the forested hills of western Sonoma county near Cazadero, CA - about forty-five minutes from urban Santa Rosa. Black Mountain Preserve is home to the Padmasambhava Peace Institute - an educational non-profit organization whose mission is to awaken and reconnect people to their our own wisdom and compassion, to create a peaceful place for human and environmental restoration, and to teach applied peace and compassion.

The Institute embraces a multi-disciplinary approach with short and long-term residential programs that help develop the skills of active compassion, non-violent communication, and living in harmony with ourselves, others, and the environment. The Peace Institute houses a conference hall, shrine room, a large fully-equipped commercial kitchen and dining room, spacious comfortable dormitories and private rooms. There are additional outdoor teaching and recreation areas. The Institute is home to a Buddhist lay community, and regularly organizes Buddhist events open to the public as well a hosts workshops, meetings, retreats and programs in environmental stewardship, health and cultural programs, and independent study.

Permaculture Design

Permaculture Principles

Natural Patterns

Pattern Application

Reading the Landscape

Nature Awareness

Forests

Soil Food Web

Water Cycles

Tropical, Arid & Cool Climates

Design Process

Sustainable Systems

Natural Building

Renewable Energy

Appropriate Technology

Rain Catchment

Graywater

Humanure

Home Gardens

Food Forests

Agroforestry

Fungi & Myco-Remediation

Bio-Remediation

Animal Systems

Aquaculture

Instructors & Facilitators

Starhawk

Starhawk is a committed global justice activist, organizer, speaker, teacher, and the author or coauthor of ten books. Starhawk is founder of Earth Activist Training, and travels internationally teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism for diverse groups, communities and audiences. Starhawk is perhaps best known as an articulate voice in the revival of earth-based spirituality and Goddess religion. Besides her inspiring, much-read books, she is a cofounder of Reclaiming, an activist branch of modern Pagan religion, and continues to work closely with the Reclaiming community. Her works include The Spiral Dance, long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement, and the now-classic ecotopian novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing . A personal favorite is award-winning Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising. Starhawk's latest book is The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature. Starhawk's books have been translated into many languages, while her essays are reprinted across the world, and have been included in numerous anthologies. Her writing is influential and has been quoted by many hundreds of other authors, from magazines to trade and academic press. Her books are often used in college curriculums.

Starhawk is a veteran of progressive movements, from anti-war to anti-nukes, and is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism. Her work in progressive movements spans over 30 years. She has organized, trained protesters, and been on the front lines of antinuclear actions at Diablo Canyon, Livermore Weapons Lab, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the Nevada Test Site, among others. She traveled to Nicaragua with Witness for Peace in 1984 and made two trips to El Salvador to give ongoing support for sustainability programs. She continues to be a witness for peace on the front lines of the Palestine/Israel war, working with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists. A main focus for the last several years has been the global justice movement; Starhawk has taken part in many of the major actions, including those in Seattle, Washington DC, Quebec City, Genoa, New York City, Cancun, Mexico, and Miami. She co-founded RANT: Root Activists' Network of Trainers, and teaches non-violent direct action trainings for groups throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Palestine, and South America. She is active in the revived American peace movement, and works with Code Pink. Starhawk also works on countless environmental and land use issues, and is a founder and active member of the Cazadero Hills Land Use Council in western Sonoma County.

Starhawk consulted on and contributed to a trio of popular films, the Women's Spirituality series (directed by Donna Read).

Starhawk and Donna Read formed their own film company, Belili Productions. Their first release is "Signs Out of Time" (2004), a documentary on the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the scholar whose discoveries sparked the Goddess movement. Watch Starhawk’s short videos on Permaculture - Tabor Tilth: Permaculture in the City, and Permaculture Principles at Work. Starhawk and Donna are at work on her next film, an Introduction to Permaculture.

Starhawk lives part-time San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in Cazadero, California, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens, and writes.

Veteran Lead Instructor

Charles Williams

Charles is a wandering spirit who has come to this work by daring to follow his heart and listen to the yearning of his soul. With faith and curiosity he has spent the past 12 years roaming North America, with a brief foray to the Middle East (Palestine/Israel/Jordan). Charles is most at home and alive in the wilderness, though his dedication to creating a better world often draws him out to march in the streets or work in community. Most biographies focus on what the person has done as an indicator of who they are. In that realm, Charles has a long list of "dones." An eclectic list such as working with livestock, building homes, blockading tanks, designing greywater systems, 30-day solo canoe trip, converting a bus to run on veggie oil, starting fire by hand, building a root cellar, constructing labyrinths, planting gardens and such. He has taught at Sterling College, various Witch Camps and Earth Activist Trainings, and numerous workshops around the states. As a wilderness traveler he has spent countless weeks out alone and even more leading groups. He has led primitive wilderness journeys for troubled youth and adults seeking their place in the world. His love of Earth has led him to introduce hundreds of children and adults to the beauty of the natural world.

Charles is a talented facilitator and conflict mediator. He has worked with many groups: from mass mobilization meetings with 100+ people to a handful of people working for progressive organizations; from Quaker-style Unity to anarchist-style consensus; from inexperienced teens to highly trained professionals. Through a rough and rugged process he has gained an eye for what helps build community and support. As an activist he has spent time in numerous cities speaking out for justice and confronting oppression. He is a war tax resister and has worked on campaigns against war, corporate globalization, bio-tech, imperialism, and environmental destruction. Much of his street work has been with the Pagan Cluster and the Alliance of Community Trainers. His journeys have taught him many lessons: how to survive on what is at hand, how to relate to many different kinds of animals (including humans), how to solve problems without first worrying whether a solution can be found. His life is his spiritual practice. Sustainability and Earth stewardship are his passions.

Instructor

Saga Mata

Sage is a permaculture designer, earthen builder, gardener, teacher and community organizer passioned by her love of the Earth. With nature and community as her teachers and inspiration, she spreads her laughter and light as she works to reflect the harmonious and regenerative patterns of nature into human design systems. She earned a Bachelor’s degree of Ecopsychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she taught a UCSC course of Ecopsychology and Social Change and co-facilitated a UCSC cob bench building workshop in 2004. She received her Permaculture Design Cerificate in 2004 through the Earth Activist Training (www.earthactivisttraining.org) and has then been involved in various permaculture projects from British Colombia to Argentina. She worked as a natural building site leader at O.U.R Ecovillage (www.ourecovillage.org) and co-manager of the bountiful gardens at GingerHill farm/retreat center on the Big Island of Hawai’i (www.gingerhillfarm.com). Sage has worked for several organizations, such as the Homeless Garden Project (www.homelessgardenproject.org) and the Garden Path Project of Berkeley Youth Alternatives (www.byaonline.org/heat). Sage has completed a Permaculture Teacher’s Training Course at the Bullock’s Homestead, WA. Currently, she is an associate of Gaia University earning her Master’s in Integrative EcoSocial Design, where she is studying action-learning as a system to integrate patterns of consciousness and the development of culture.

Instructor, Facilitation, Production

Jay Ma

Jay Ma is a permaculture designer, facilitator, and community organizer committed to cultural healing through Peacemaker Principles. He received his first permaculture design certification through Naropa University in 2001, a B.A. through New College of California in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community with a concentration in Eco-Dwelling/Natural Building, and is a graduate of the pioneering two-year training intensive in Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness. Jay has developed educational programs, retreats, workshops, and events as well as community land development projects with organizations including the Regenerative Design Institute, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Earth Circle, Gaia University, Harmony Festival, and others. Jay is co-founder and director of programs and development of Living Mandala - an emerging collective of educators, designers, and consultants, and works with other regenerative educators and institutions organizing educational courses, workshops, and events for ecological and social-social regeneration in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. He is currently an associate with Gaia University in Organized Learning for Eco-Social Regeneration. Jay is also a certified Permaculture Teacher, a Fire Walk Instructor through Sundoor International, and is passionate about renewing Rites of Passage experiential programs for people of all ages.

Instructor, Facilitation, Production

Erik Ohlsen

Erik Ohlsen is a Permaculture designer, teacher, community organizer, and activist. He is the director and owner of Permaculture Earth Artisans - a Permaculture design and installation business in Sebastopol, California. Erik has extensive field experience in water harvesting/storm water management, Food Forests, perennial polyculture, erosion control systems, market gardens/farms, ponds, integrated Pest management, sustainable forestry, irrigation systems, grey water/bioremediation, use of and influence to microclimates, urban agriculture, community gardens, watershed restoration, operating heavy machinery, and facilitating crews. Erik has taught courses in Permaculture and related subjects throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. He currently teaches with the Earth Activist Training, the Regenerative Design Institute and guest teaches with The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. Internationally, Erik has worked on campaigns for global Justice. He has founded numerous non-profits over the years. The following are organizations Erik has co-founded or founded: Planting Earth Activation - PA, an organization dedicated to planting community gardens, growing and saving heirloom and open pollinated seed, and educating the community about sustainable agriculture. PA planted over hundred gardens in under three years. The RITES Project (Return Intentions Toward Ecological Sustainability) - this organization has initiated gardens and eco-literacy programs in schools. The RITES project also organizes Permaculture and bioremediation courses locally and abroad. The Green Bloc -this group of Permaculture Activists organize solution oriented actions at the WTO, G8, FTAA, and Biotech meetings. Adopt-an-Activist - An organization dedicated to fundraising for activists, to enable full time stints for people dedicated to this work.

Guest Instructor

Bios of Additional Instructors & Special Guests Coming Soon!

Affiliated Organizations

Community Building

Group Decision Making

Compassionate Communication

Education

Cooperatives

Non-Profits

Sustainable Finance

Land Access

Eco-Villages

Indigenous Wisdom

Design Tools

Design Methods

Zones & Sectors

Site Analysis

Maps and Mapping

Social Permaculture

Invisible Structures

Urban Permaculture

Hands-On Activities

Zone Zero

Design Projects

Embodiment Practices

Wildcrafting

Nutritious Meal